Zohran is Inevitable

But can Mamdani keep the Magic?

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On November 4th, Zohran Mamdani will be elected the next Mayor of New York City.

Since the night of June 24th, Mamdani has become one of the most acclaimed — and polarizing — politicians in the nation. A brief sojourn to Uganda to celebrate his nuptials did not interrupt the hype. Much of the Democratic establishment, quietly impressed throughout the Primary, has flocked to Mamdani. Even Governor Kathy Hochul, an Upstate moderate, bent the metaphorical knee; along with Speaker Carl Heastie, who formerly cancelled the democratic socialist’s bus pilot. A phone call with Barack Obama was reported by The New York Times. All sectors of the political press — local, national, international — clamor for Mamdani-mentum. Magazine covers bear his warm smile, with even more profiles in waiting. Socialism and Affordability are en vogue; their champion praised as a model for the Democratic Party. He is not only the talk of this town of almost nine million, but the United States of America.

Despite Mamdani’s twelve point victory in the Democratic Primary, none of this was guaranteed. In the weeks thereafter, the billionaire class, caught flat footed in June, foreshadowed a tidal wave of outside spending come November, while scheming to narrow the field down to two. However, three months later, their efforts have flopped. Mayor Eric Adams, doomed to single digits, has remained in the race, content to attack Andrew Cuomo, the only candidate with a prayer of upsetting Mamdani. As has Republican Curtis Sliwa, eschewing several bribes from business oligarchs (in his telling). Cuomo, on the heels of a humiliating defeat, has adopted a more aggressive social media presence, but has little to show for it with less than six weeks remaining, his negatives baked in. Now, Zohran Mamdani has more endorsements than the rest of the field combined — several times over. And, while his opponents poll numbers have flatlined, Mamdani’s have steadily risen, on pace to exceed fifty-percent.

Inevitably, the day-to-day contours of Mamdani’s campaign, when compared to the Democratic Primary, is different. His team, once a scrappy cadre of underdogs, has grown to more than two dozen. As the Democratic nominee, more doors have opened for Mamdani: business leaders request meetings, clergy ask him to speak to their congregations, and Democrats in D.C. want to know how he did the impossible.

The pace too, has changed. Mamdani, who became one of the most famous figures in America overnight, does not face the 107 day, existential sprint to the finish that Kamala Harris did last fall, nor an entirely irrelevant General Election, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. If Harris was running for her life while Ocasio-Cortez casually strolled, Mamdani is jogging; his eyes simultaneously fixed on a November 4th mandate and a smooth transition on January 1st.

These currents have spawned an interesting discussion, mostly confined to the political class, about the fitness of Mamdani’s general election campaign. Ross Barkan, detailing the need for Mamdani (once Barkan’s Campaign Manager) to crack fifty-percent, wrote “from the outside, I’ve been less impressed by the general election effort, though that doesn’t mean he won’t win big.” Ben Smith, the co-founder of Semafor and member of the New York Editorial Board, recently quipped to former Mayor Bill de Blasio: “You don’t think [Mamdani’s] sort-of dropped the ball politically by letting, I don’t know, what is he doing? He had a scavenger hunt. He hasn’t announced new policies. You don’t think that’s a mistake?”

Mamdani not only has to manage greater scrutiny from the press, but continue to satiate his political base. Elements of the socialist left, distrustful of institutions and occasionally paranoid of co-option, get anxious whenever the left-liberal establishment wholeheartedly embraces one of their own: “Aren’t these the guys who got us in this mess?” Any move perceived as pivoting, even a simple apology to police officers or discouraging the use of the phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” risks backlash from his staunchest supporters. Still, Mamdani, the best needle-threader I have ever seen (“Israel has a right to exist… as a state with equal rights”), has managed to avoid these familiar pitfalls.

Undoubtedly, Mamdani ran one of the best primary campaigns in recent memory (let alone history). Flawlessly executed, the democratic socialist rose from one percent in the polls to earn fifty-six percent of the vote, successfully defining himself as an authentic economic populist. His videos not only went viral, but inspired tens of thousands of volunteers to donate their time, talking to strangers about the movement they were building. On Election Night, the Ugandan-born Muslim socialist stood alongside Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress; Letitia James, the first African American and woman to be elected New York Attorney General; and Brad Lander, the progressive zionist whose cross-endorsement proved so crucial to Mamdani’s surge in the final days. His triumph was the highest water mark for the American Left since Bernie Sanders’ victory in the Nevada Caucus, the Rainbow coalition of the working-class put into practice.

Comparable to a sequel of a blockbuster epic, the second title — larger budget, greater hype, higher expectations — often lives in the shadow of the first, naturally leading to disappointment.

There was a tangible risk this phenomena occurred with Mamdani’s general election effort.

Yet, on all fronts, Mamdani has plowed ahead. After a brief summer break, the campaign resumed its vaunted canvassing operation in August, attracting even more first time volunteers. What was once fifty-thousand now exceeds seventy; and with six weeks remaining, crossing the six figure volunteer threshold remains firmly in play. The polarizing nature of Cuomo (and Adams) has helped Mamdani cohere labor unions and state Democratic leaders (Kathy Hochul, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Carl Heastie), fundamental pieces of any successful governing coalition. While the last vestiges of the Democratic establishment, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, have yet to come on board, Mamdani’s twenty point lead in the polls and attentional hegemony has effectively backed them both into a corner.

At this point, given Jeffries and Schumer cannot escape an interview without being pressed on their Mamdani-related reluctance, they need the democratic socialist more than he needs them (at least until Trump sends in the national guard). Most notably, Mamdani has shifted the Overton Window with respect to support for Palestine, in New York City and across the nation, arguably more than any other political leader. While the principal, due to safety concerns and a packed schedule, sees the light of day less, the magic on display throughout the Democratic Primary is still there for all to see: on sports podcasts with Pablo Torres, on the open streets of Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, and in the stories of “Until It’s Done.”

Still, the emotional heights of June serve as a lofty barometer. Barkan, in his aforementioned article, offers several suggestions: more press availability and neighborhood walks, pre-emptive announcements of future administration appointments, and one last scorched earth campaign on Andrew Cuomo. In Smith’s telling, Mamdani should lean into his technocratic bona fides.

These ideas orbit a greater question: how does Zohran Mamdani close the campaign?

The announcement of Deputy Mayors (“If elected, I would hire X”) would further build the aura of inevitability; conveying preparedness, rather than hubris. Indeed, the biggest knock against Mamdani, age thirty-three, is his relative youth and inexperience in executive positions. A comprehensive governing plan for multiple agencies, as Mamdani has detailed for public safety and policing, would disarm his most fervent critics. Nor does Cuomo, forty days away from the end of his career, deserve a free pass; the former Governor’s connection to the Trump administration’s plan to influence the general election result remains a fatal error in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans eight-to-one. To this effect, Adam Carlson recently opined, “there’s been a lot of speculation around whether Mamdani will pivot further to the center to attract more skeptical Dem voters, or tack left to help re-energize the base that launched him to victory in the primary. Going hard after Trump accomplishes both.” Yes and No.

As we enter the homestretch, Mamdani is not so much competing against Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, Eric Adams — or even Donald Trump — but himself.

Undoubtedly, the President, reviled in the deeply blue four boroughs, is the gift that keeps on giving. While anxieties about the state of democracy are real and well-founded, they pale in comparison to the fear of eviction, ICE raids, the genocide of loved one’s overseas, and random violence — everyday realities for millions of New Yorkers. Zohran Mamdani’s brilliance is that, amidst a sea of aloof Democratic leadership, he not only understands this dynamic, but speaks to it. Mamdani began his campaign, in the days after Trump’s victory, talking to voters on Fordham Road in the Bronx and Hillside Avenue in Queens; local working-class constituencies the Democratic Party had forgotten. His victory was not solely a triumph of The Commie Corridor, but under-represented and oft-overlooked New Yorkers: Muslims, South Asians, rent-stabilized tenants. Now, they are at the center of the biggest political story in the nation. Cable news pundits and national magazines have been forced to learn the plight of Brighton Beach, College Point, and Westchester Square; a new story written before our eyes. When Mamdani first introduced his candidacy to the Trump-curious, Democrat-skeptic voters in the aforementioned viral video, his courting was hypothetical: “If a candidate ran on these issues, would you support them?” This November, Mamdani has the opportunity to do just that; closing the campaign where it began. There would be no better bookend than: “I voted for Trump, but now I’m voting for you.”

While words tell stories, images do too. On the morning of November 5th, what will the map of New York City say? A sea of blue across University Heights, Bensonhurst, Richmond Hill, and Corona — far from the case one year ago — would be worth far more than one thousand words; Mamdani’s fifty-percent plus mandate realized.

If there is a way to both nationalize and localize the campaign’s final days, it is here.

Today, Mamdani could not re-create “the walk,” the seventeen mile journey the length of Manhattan (shoutout Julian Gerson) that served as the perfect capstone to his Primary campaign. From a security perspective, it would be a nightmare: tall buildings, thousands of people, an easily discernible route. Since the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, the impetus of raising Mamdani’s protection has only increased; many of us were already concerned. Nonetheless, there are several ways Mamdani can build upon this magic that does not compromise safety or dynamism. There is a reason why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a political figure whose fame is on par with Mamdani, lives in North Corona, and not Astoria. Those working-class blocks are among the handful of ZIP codes in the country where she exists as a civilian, rather than a celebrity. There are many such places where Mamdani can strike this balance: touring small businesses and canvassing commuters along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights and Corona; speaking with parents after dismissal in East Tremont, one of the lowest performing school districts in the city, talking about public education and his plans for helping their children; a gun violence walk and roundtable in East New York, once dubbed “the killing fields,” to discuss how the new department of community safety will complement the NYPD. While each stop serves a policy, political, and narrative purpose, the underlying emotion would always be one of community and hope, the heart and soul of the Mamdani campaign: bringing visibility and dignity to the lives of those too often ignored.

Yet beyond any explicit aim, such an undertaking would implicitly benefit the principal. Interacting, safely and unscripted, with everyday New Yorkers on the street — not politicians or power brokers — would act as a reprieve for Mamdani. There is a memorable line from Oppenheimer that has stuck with me ever since, where an esteemed professor appeals to the restless and wayward genius: “Algebra is like sheet music, the important thing isn’t can you read music, it’s can you hear it. Can you hear the music, Robert?” For someone like Zohran, the music is played on the streets of New York City, away from the stuffy political class.

Ironically, the scavenger hunt, much to the chagrin of Smith, harnessed this ethos. Thousands of people — families with children, singles on their first date, new friends made from volunteering, strangers getting to know one another — spending multiple hours of their Sunday together, criss-crossing the Island of Manhattan (before reaching the final stop in Queens). If the anti-social century is the anti-meaning century, where young people are “spending less time socializing and partying than previous generations” instead “gaming alone, watching TV alone, scrolling on social media alone,” then Mamdani’s campaign is offering the real-time antidote.

Recently, I found myself listening to Ezra Klein and Spencer Cox, the Governor of Utah. Cox, a “moderate” Republican (if that even exists in the Trump era), has received national attention following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, speaking of the destruction wrought by the tech oligarchs on the youngest generations of Americans (during Cox’s tenure, Utah has passed some of the strictest social media regulation in the United States). Utah, a predominantly Mormon state that is seventy-five percent white, is about as far from New York City — culturally, demographically, politically — as one can be. Which is why, when Cox offered the following, I stopped:

“Most people will not have a huge impact on the world as we understand it. What I think we should be telling our young people is that they shouldn’t be trying to change the world, they should be trying to change their community, their neighborhood. Service is one of the most important things we can do for our own mental health and building community. I would encourage them to… believe in something bigger than themselves. If you are not interested in faith, then find a group, a positive tribe, that is doing good in this world, and gives you a place to meet people different from you. I hope people will log off of social media.. and find human beings again.”

If you did not know any better, you would have sworn he was talking about Zohran Mamdani.

Maybe he was.

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